Magnitude 6 earthquake in Italy destroys towns and kills dozens

A strong earthquake has struck central Italy, collapsing homes on top of residents as they slept and leaving at least 20 people dead.

The magnitude 6 quake struck at 3.36am local time (0136 GMT) and was felt across a broad swathe of central Italy, including the capital, Rome, where residents felt a long swaying followed by aftershocks.

The hardest-hit towns were Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, some 100km north-east of Rome, though the quake was felt beyond the Lazio region into Umbria and Le Marche on the Adriatic coast.

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The centre of Amatrice was devastated, with entire palazzos razed to the ground. Rocks and metal tumbled on to the streets and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as dozens of aftershocks continued into the early morning hours, some as strong as 5.1.

The side of a building collapsed in Amatrice following the magnitude 6 quake

Massimo Percossi/ANSA via AP

“The whole ceiling fell but did not hit me,” said resident Maria Gianni. “I just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn’t hit, luckily, just slightly injured my leg.”

As daylight dawned, residents, civil protection workers and even priests began digging out with shovels, bulldozers and their bare hands, trying to reach survivors.

“This earthquake is no surprise,” says Mark Quigley of the School of Earth Sciences at The University of Melbourne. “This is one of the most seismically active parts of Italy as clearly identified in many seismic hazard maps.”

The Italian geological service put the magnitude at 6.0. The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.2 with the epicentre at Norcia, about 170km north-east of Rome, and with a relatively shallow depth of 10km.

“I don’t know what to say. We are living this immense tragedy,” said the Rev Savino D’Amelio, an Amatrice parish priest. “We are only hoping there will be the least number of victims possible and that we all have the courage to move on.”

Amatrice Mayor Pirozzi told state-run RAI radio and Sky TG24 that residents were buried under collapsed buildings, that the lights had gone out and that heavy equipment was needed to clear streets clogged with debris.

In 2009, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck in the same region and killed more than 300 people. The earlier earthquake struck in L’Aquila was about 90km south of the latest quake.